E T II: Darkness and Fears, Light and Love
by WogglebugLoveProductions
Summary: Elliot is feeling a victim and outcast by his peers again. E.T. returns and helps Elliot and his family again. Meanwhile, an all evil Dementress in deep space notices E.T. and she hates him. So she blackmails the government to help her destroy him and the love he feels and gives. But does not know she's doomed to fail, and everything she knows is bad and just wrong.
1. Chapter 1

April 16, 1985

Elliot Taylor sat at his desk in Astronomy class paying rapt attention to his teacher Mr. Rosner. It was a known fact around the school that Elliot paid more attention than any of the other kids. He had been this way ever since he had last been visited by his otherworldly best friend, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial at Christmas in 1982 and he was now in eighth grade and he loved learning higher levels of everything he had learned about before. He loved history, biology, geometry, chemistry, and he even did good in mathematics, but his favorite subjects of all were astronomy and science for he wanted to impress Keys, who was now not only dating his divorced mother but had become like a second father to him, and he also wanted to honor E.T.'s memory with it for he had shown more about the truth than any human teacher ever could, though Mr. Rosner was a close second.

"So," he was saying at the end of his discourse, "because the sun's rays take three-million years to reach the Earth when we look through the Hubble Space Telescope we can actually look back in time."

"Can we see into the future, too?" asked Elliot curiously.

"I suppose so," his teacher replied. "If we were on a distant planet. But I don't think we'll ever be able to travel back in time like in the movie _Back to the Future_," he added referring to everyone's favorite movie this year.

Elliot was just about to ask another question when he suddenly felt something poking him from behind his head. He looked around and saw a paper airplane lying on the floor by his chair. He picked it up and unfolded it. There was a message written on the white piece of paper and he read it out loud.

"I'm a nerd."

The rest of the class which had until now been looking just bored now erupted in raucous laughter, especially Murray Findelmyer who sat across from Elliot and he pointed his finger at Elliot as he laughed at him much to the displeasure of him and to the teacher.

"Silence!" he snapped. "Mr. Findelemyer I will be seeing you after class!" he said to Murray angrily.

Elliot slouched down in his seat. He had just been reminded that although he was one of the smartest kids in school he was also one of the least popular. He supposed it was the price that came with knowledge that E.T. had mentioned, but he had also said things would get better eventually for people like him, but waiting was hard to do.

Another thing that was hard for him was his physical education class which he had at the end of the day. He was never good at anything in this area, unlike his older brother Michael who was now in senior high school and was also a star at football and track, while Elliot couldn't kick a football far if his life depended on it, and he also could just never run fast enough before tiring himself out.

Today they were climbing by hand to the top of a long rope. Elliot watched in fascination as Ben Leslie clutched onto the rope and maneuvered himself up with his feet and bare hands until he was very close to the very top.

"Well done, Ben!" said the coach as everyone applauded. "Now it is your turn Elliot."

Elliot gulped as he took hold of the rope and gripped it as tightly as he could.

"On your mark, get set, go!" the coach said.

Elliot tried hauling himself up but the rope was too hard and thick and rough on his hands and he kept slipping and he had only gone up three and a half feet when he suddenly looked down and almost at once plummeted down to Earth on his backside.

All the class laughed at him when he fell, especially Murray Findlemyer.

"I saw London, I saw France, I saw Elliot's underpants!" Joan Pliers shrieked, and thus making everyone laugh even harder.

"Quiet! Quiet!" exclaimed the coach. "Never mind, Elliot," he added softly. "You'll find your strength someday.

Elliot hung his head as he walked to the back of the line feeling like a total wimp.

As he walked out of the school building later in the afternoon he noticed Erin walking by him. She was tall and slender with long blonde braids hanging down her back and she was also the girl he had kissed on a sudden mysterious impulse three years ago. He had apologized to her about as soon as he could and she had said it was alright but to never let it happen again. She caught him looking at her and she smiled and waved. He waved back thinking of how pretty she looked walking in the sunlight.

He went over to the bike racks to get his bike which he always rode to and from school on. However, Murray Findlemyer was there waiting for him and as soon as he was in reach he reached out and grabbed by the straps on his backpack and forced him to the ground.

"Because of you I've got detention!" he roared as he continued to pummel him into the earth. "You're not going anywhere until you give me all your money!"

"I don't have any!" Elliot screamed.

Murray turned him upside down and shook him as hard as he could and a single quarter fell out of his jeans pocket which he had forgotten all about.

"Well, what do you call this, then!?" he exclaimed as he grabbed the quarter from Elliot's grasp and then kicked him in the face. "You're a nerd, a wimp, and a liar! Is this your bike?" he asked taking hold of the handlebars of Elliot's bike.

"Yeah... wha...?" Elliot muttered feeling tenderly of his jaw where Murray had kicked him.

"Then thanks for loaning it out to me!" he exclaimed airily as he hopped onto its seat and pedaled fast away down the sidewalk.

Elliot sat in the dirt with tears streaming down his face adding salt to the wounds Murray had given him. His bike had been a prized possession of his for his dad had given it to him and he had also flown on it with E.T. twice and now Murray had taken it from him and possibly forever. He stood u shakily and stumbled along the sidewalk as he sobbed all the way home.

When he finally arrived home it was almost evening. He opened the door and found his ten-year old sister Gertie sitting in front of the TV watching _The Smurfs_ and his seventeen year old brother Michael was on the phone apparently talking to his girlfriend.

"Sure, tomorrow night sounds great!" he said happily into the phone.

Elliot found his mother was in the kitchen standing over the stove preparing dinner and when she saw him come in she quickly put everything down and rushed at once to his side.

"Oh my God! What happened to you and why are so late?" she inquired worriedly as she inspected his facial injury.

"Murray took my bike," was all Elliot could get out through his throat which was aching from sobbing so much.

"Oh dear! No!" Mary sighed as she led him upstairs to the bathroom where she began to wash the bruise on his face with soap and water.

"I hate school!" Elliot exclaimed as she began to apply disinfectant to his hurt skin which caused it to burn. "Nobody likes me there, they say I'm a wimp! I wish I had left with E.T. in his spaceship and gone with him to his home. I bet everyone there is a lot nicer than they are here!"

Mary felt her heart breaking at his words. She had to remind him he was still loved and wanted here in his own home. "There is plenty of love for you right here in this house," she said as she tenderly bandaged up his cheek. "There really are good and kind people in this world, they just get hard to look for sometimes," she continued. "We'll get your bike back soon. Why don't you call Keys and tell him about it." She added as an afterthought, "And I'm sure E.T. wouldn't want you to feel this way. He's probably sad that you're so sad now."

Elliot began to think about E.T. He was not only his best friend he was his mentor and his soul mate. When he had first seen E.T. he had been afraid of him but when he had met him properly he had known instantly there was something very special about him, more so than any person on Earth. Now it seemed like it was written in the stars for them to meet and be saved by each other. He could still feel him with him all the time, for he was forever tuned into his mind and his heart and most of the time he could feel he was perfectly happy, he just wished he could be so himself.

He went into his bedroom and stood by the window. He could see the first stars were out now and the sky was growing dim. He studied the stars for a moment and tried to imagine which one E.T.'s home revolved around. He remembered when E.T. had said he would always be right here for him, and just a call away. He wondered just how true that was.

"Hi, E.T.. It's me, Elliot," he said directing his speech toward the stars. "I hope you're not too busy now, but I wanted to tell you I miss you and I wish you were here now. My life really stinks now and my bike got stolen, the one you and I went flying on before, remember? So... if it's not too much trouble for you, could you come back again and help me get it back, and not just because of it, but also because I would really like to see you again." He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Goodnight, E.T.."

He sat at his desk and took his homework out of his backpack and got himself busy with astronomy. A couple of hours later he was startled to hear a mysterious humming noise which sounded almost like music. He looked up and was shocked to see the baseball on his desk rise up into the air and spin around, then he saw the flowers in the pot nearby blossom into full bloom. Then a bright yellow light came in through the window and flooded the room with its brilliance.

Elliot gasped. He knew what this had to mean. "He's come back!" he whispered.

He leaped up from his chair at the desk and rushed to the window beside it. He could see the bright light rising above the treetops over the houses and he could just make out the silhouette of a round blue object floating over them.

Without another second's thought he raced downstairs and grabbed his jacket that was hanging by the door and rushed outside. He ran into the garden beside the house where he saw the lights descending and stopped short as he watched the spaceship land slowly and gracefully onto the soil and as the hatching doors opened a gangplank was lowered down. A small figure appeared in the light of the opening in the ship, it waddled slowly down the gangplank in the shadows attracting more light as it descended.

"E.T.!" Elliot gasped as he recognized him the moment he was face to face with him.

The gentle-hearted little alien smiled serenely at him and held out his finger. "Ouch," he said as the tip of lit up.

Elliot smiled understanding. "Ouch," he replied as he extended his own finger toward him and theirs fingertips connected.


	2. Chapter 2

Elliot threw his arms around E.T. and hugged him like he was afraid if he didn't keep holding on to him he'd disappear.

"Greetings gentle Earthling," E.T. said as he tenderly rubbed Elliot's back. "E.T. glad to see you again."

"Just as I'm glad to see you again!" exclaimed Elliot looking up at E.T.'s smiling face. "I just called for you now because I need you, did you already know?"

"Maybe, or maybe it was just an amazing coincidence," replied E.T. "Remember I can feel what's in your heart just as you can feel mine. I could feel your pain, anger, and depression, but I do not know what caused it, maybe you can fill me in on it and I'll see what I can do for you."

"You must be hungry after your journey," Elliot said. "And so am I. It's almost dinnertime. Come inside and I tell you everything then. I'm sure my family will be happy to see you again also."

E.T. smiled and nodded, a human gesture he had picked up on during his last visit.

Elliot led E.T. into his house and at once his brother and sister got up and rushed up to E.T. to embrace him.

"E.T.! I missed you!" exclaimed Gertie kissing his cheek.

"It's good to have you back, little fella!" added Michael as he patted E.T. on the head.

"We were so hoping you would come back just now," said Mary gratefully to him. "And your just in time for dinner, we're having baked potatoes and green beans."

"My favorite!" exclaimed E.T. delightedly.

As they all sat around the dining table Elliot told them all about what had happened to him at school that day.

"And then Murray took my bike and just rode away on it!" he said heatedly. "Taking my quarter wasn't enough for him, he had to have my bike too!"

"Why would Murray take what was your and not his?" E.T. asked not understanding it at all.

"Because it was mine, and because he didn't like me," replied Elliot miserably.

"Why does he not like you?" asked E.T. very confused. "What's not to like about you?"

"I'm a whimp," Elliot replied despondently.

"What's a whimp?" inquired E.T. curiously.

"Someone who can't make the team?" replied Elliot, starting to get tired of E.T.'s questions.

"Why can't you make the team?" E.T. asked.

Elliot thought about it but just couldn't come up with a good answer for it. "I... I don't know," he said.

"Murray is a very bad person! You should give him a good punch in the nose next time you see him!" Gertie declared raising up a clenched fist.

"No, Gertie," Mary objected. "Elliot, violence is never the right solution, two wrongs don't make a right."

"But I have to get my bike back somehow," Elliot exclaimed. "It was very special to me."

"Well, why don't we just report Murray to the police, and they'll tell his parents and you'll get your bike back, and hopefully Murray will get suspended," Michael suggested.

"That would just make things worse!" exclaimed Elliot in despair. "Murray still lives in the neighborhood and he knows where I live and he'll come around here and pound me into the dirt, I know he will!" He turned desperately to E.T. "E.T., why don't you just take me away from here in your spaceship so I can live with you on your planet?"

"Elliot, please," Mary said in a slightly hurt voice. "Running away never solves anything."

"Mary is right," E.T. agreed. "But you need not worry, my friend," he said to Elliot. "If Murray has your bike I will help you get it back."

"You will?" Elliot's eyes lit up with renewed hope.

"I promise," E.T. assured him.

After dinner Elliot went upstairs and into the bathroom where he began brushing his teeth and E.T. followed him and watched his movements curiously.

"Why do you do that?" he asked.

"So I can wipe off the remains of the food I had for dinner," Elliot replied with toothpaste foam coming out of his mouth.

"Why?" asked E.T.

"Because I have to keep my teeth clean so I won't get cavities or germs in them," Elliot replied as he began to rinse his mouth out.

"What are cavities?" asked E.T. as he had never heard of them before.

"They're black holes that grow into your teeth and make them hurt," replied Elliot, wiping his mouth off.

"And what are germs?" asked E.T., thinking he might have heard the term before but wasn't sure.

"They're teeny tiny things that you can't see but you know you have them when you get sick," Elliot replied, opening a bottle full of a green liquid.

"What is that green liquid for?" E.T. asked pointing to it.

"It's mouthwash," said Elliot. "To make sure all the germs are washed away." He opened the bottle and took a large swig of the green liquid and began quickly sloshing it around inside of his mouth before he spit it out in the sink.

"May E.T. try it?" he asked.

"Um... Okay," said Elliot handing E.T. the bottle.

E.T. took a big gulp of the green liquid and swallowed it. "Why, it's delicious!" he exclaimed.

"Are you kidding?" exclaimed Elliot in disbelief. "That stuff burns my mouth up!"

As Elliot got into bed that night he let E.T. sleep on the floor beside him in his sleeping bag.

"E.T.?" he asked after a moment. "Are you sure you can get my bike back from Murray?"

"E.T. is sure," he replied. "He would never let you down."

"But how?" asked Elliot. "How will you get it back? I mean, I sure wouldn't want Murray to hurt you or anything."

E.T. smiled with a look of confidence in his big blue eyes. "No need to worry. My race has developed our own special defense mechanisms which we use mainly on dangerous plants, and I won't even need to be seen, it will look like you did it all yourself."

"Really? But how?" asked Elliot.

E.T. whispered his plan of action to him.

The next day as Elliot walked to school he crossed the street and took a shortcut where he knew he would be sure to catch up with Murray. E.T. followed him and kept in the shadows and the bushes by the road.

When they finally caught up with Murray he was pedaling Elliot's bicycle down the street toward them. Elliot ran out into the street and stood right in Murray's way with his hands on his hips.

Murray stopped abruptly in front of him. "Get out of my way, whimp!" he yelled.

"Murray, you took my bike when it wasn't yours to take," Elliot said in a calm, emotionless tone. "As its rightful owner I demand that you give it back now or I'll be forced to get tough with you."

Murray snorted and laughed loudly through his nose and teeth. "Aw, come on!" he guffawed. "I'd like to see a whimp like you try to be tough like me! Now get out of my way before I run you down!"

"I'm not going anywhere until I have my bike, Murray, I mean it!" Elliot said in the same calm and serious tone of voice as before.

Murray promptly reached out and lunged at Elliot with a huge balled fist and swung at him hard, however to his astonishment he couldn't strike Elliot and he only hit onto a wall of solid air around him. He blinked in disbelief and stared at Elliot as if he were suddenly seeing he was there for the very first time. Then he hauled back and took another swing at him with his other fist and then another and another but each time he was blocked by the shield of solid air in front of Elliot.

"What is with you, whimp?" Murray said with a trace of fear in his voice.

"Don't you ever call me a whimp in front of me!" Elliot said.

"I'll call you whatever I want to call you, loser!" Murray shouted.

"Alright," said Elliot. "Look up there!"

Murray looked up with a confused look on his face and the next moment with a shocked look because he suddenly found himself being lifted up into the air on the bicycle.

"Hey what are you doing! Put me down!" he exclaimed. "Put me down now!"

"Not until you give me back my bike!" Elliot declared defiantly.

"Never!" shouted Murray.

"Alright then," Elliot said with a regretful sigh.

The next moment Murray let of surprise and terror as the bicycle he was on suddenly turned itself upside down and he was clinging desperately onto the handlebars and his feet dangled trembling in the air.

"Stop this now you little demon!" Murray screamed as if pleading for mercy from Elliot.

Elliot just blinked and a moment later Murray's trousers fell down past his knees and his boxer shorts covered with little yellow Tweety Birds were revealed for all to see.

"Alright! Alright!" Murray finally said, almost in tears of humiliation. "You can have your stupid bike back!"

"You promise you'll never pick on me again?" asked Elliot.

"I promise!" Murray shouted. "Cross my heart and hope to die and all that!"

Elliot blinked again and the bicycle righted itself but Murray lost his grip on it and fell to the ground on his backside with his boxers still showing.

Murray hurriedly pulled up his trousers and ran away bawling, while Elliot hopped onto his bicycle and pedaled over to a bush beside the road and whispered, "Thanks E.T.."

E.T. poked his head out of the bush and smiled and winked.

Then Elliot pedaled off to school while E.T. crept quietly back to the house.


	3. Chapter 3

E.T. had been on his way back to the Taylors house, when he suddenly realized how curious he was about where Elliot had gone to. For this thing called school was something completely unheard of to him. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was a bad place to be if it was where Elliot could get his bicycle stolen from him and be called a whimp for not making the team, and what did making the team mean anyway? E.T. was so curious he felt he just had to find out and so he turned back around and dashed quickly through the underbrush maneuvering himself forward with his extra long arms.

By the time E.T. arrived at the school Elliot was in the middle of physical training and E.T. found a dozen human children in a barren field that was surrounded by grass and he saw about fifteen human children scattered around on it and in front of them there was a man wearing a blue uniform with a white birdlike symbol on the left breast and he was speaking rapidly to all his pupils.

"On your mark, get set, go!" he exclaimed.

E.T. watched as a light-haired boy with a face dotted everywhere with freckles ran forward toward a long and narrow white bar that was placed in the middle of the field and as soon as he was close enough he made a great leap for it and flew over it in a single bound. Everyone cheered as he landed on his feet on the other side.

"Very good, Perry!" exclaimed the coach. "Now it's your turn, Elliot."

E.T. watched as Elliot stepped timidly to the front of the line and then set off at a run, rather slowly at first and then he began picking up speed and then when he was within inches from the white bar he made a jump for it. But instead of flying over it he fell on top of it and flattened it to the ground.

Everyone laughed at his mishap and the coach went up to him and said kindly, "That's okay Elliot, just try again."

So Elliot picked himself up and backed up from the bar and then set off running at it again with an air of determination in his movement. He made a great leap at it but he apparently wasn't close enough and he came up just short of hitting the bar and fell flat on his face.

Everyone except the coach laughed at him again and yelled boo. The coach went up to him and gently helped him to stand again and said, "It's okay, Elliot. You'll do better next time. Remember, if at first you don't succeed, try again."

E.T. thought the coach had given very good advice, but then he watched as Elliot hung his head in disgrace and walked back to the end of the line his shoulders slumping as his ears filled with the things he heard from the others around him like "Chicken head!" and "What a whimp!"

E.T. watched from his hiding place in the bushes and shadows and felt he couldn't bear to see Elliot feeling so ashamed of himself, and he could actually feel his remorse as if it were his own and it was so deep that it made him want to cry and he sniffled.

The sniffle Elliot heard from him and he looked around quickly and spotted the top of his head in the bushes and crept quietly away from the line and walked up to him and bending down to eye level he whispered, "E.T.! What on Earth are you doing here now?"

"E.T. had to see you and find out about school," he explained. "I saw you trying to jump over there, but is it important that you must make a jump over that white line there?"

"So that I can show how good I am at jumping over things," Elliot replied dismally. "But as you saw I am no good at all, am I?"

E.T. smiled and looked tenderly into Elliot's sad face. "I do believe you can jump over it if you only feel you can. Come here." He put three of his four fingers together into a birdlike symbol and lit the one in the middle and very gently touched it to Elliot's forehead. "There," he said. "Let's see if this helps."

Elliot suddenly felt all of his sorrow and shame melted away from him and replaced by an overt feeling of happiness and confidence in being just who he was. And suddenly he knew exactly how to leap over the bar. He ran quickly up to his coach just he was about to call the time and said, "Coach, I want to try again now! I can do it! I can do it now!"

The coach looked into Elliot's eyes and saw the look of joy and confidence in them, it was more confidence than he had ever seen in any of the pupils he had coached before. And ignoring the sniggering that came from some of the other students he nodded and said, "Okay then, give it your best shot!"

Elliot raced to the front of the line and stopped for only a second to get himself set and then started off at a steady jog toward to white bar and then gained strength and speed as he got closer and closer to it and then he jumped high into the air and maneuvered his body weight forward in a great arch and soared high over the bar and landed gracefully on his hands and knees on the other side of it.

He stood up and turned around and was met with gasps and murmurs of surprise and disbelief and then gradually he began to hear clapping and more and more clapping until it was all he could hear.

"Excellent!" the coach yelled trying to be heard of the cheers and applause. "Let Elliot be a great example to you all of what you can do if you just look inside and try your very best!"

E.T. watched from the bushes and caught sight of Elliot looking his way and he smiled at him as he lit his fingertip.

* * *

As Elliot was exiting the school building in the late afternoon he came across Murray standing next to Erin and he was apparently irritating her.

"Come on, Erin, just let me walk you to your house, please!" Murray was begging.

"No, a thousand times no!" Erin yelled trying to get away from him.

"Please, please, please!" he tried again. "I'll carry your backpack for you!" He tried to snatch it from her shoulders.

"No, stop!" Elliot shrieked. "Leave me alone!"

Elliot was very much disturbed at seeing Murray trying to harass Erin and he had to put a stop to it and keep Murray under his thumb. He stepped boldly up to them and put his hand on Murray's broad shoulder.

"Excuse me, Murray," Elliot said very calmly and seriously. "But could you please leave and Erin alone because if you don't you will be advised to hold on to your socks, and your trousers."

Murray looked at Elliot with a mixed blend of fear, despise, and resentment and then clutched on to the waistband of his black jeans and walked quickly away from him.

"Thank you, Elliot," said Erin, amazed at how easily he had been able to tell Murray off. "That was very brave, and you were also really great in PT today as well,' she added smiling at him.

"Gee, thanks," Elliot said blushing slightly. "It was no trouble at all really."

Erin smiled and then she began to look at him a bit more seriously. "There is something I've wanted to ask you for a while," she said. "I know you're the smartest guy in the whole school, but why don't you believe in God?"

Elliot always dreaded being asked this question and he decided to first answer her the same way he answered everyone else who asked. "Well, why would God create us to be imperfect and then curse for it even though it was his own fault that we are the way we are?"

Erin looked shocked. "Why, I'd never thought of it like that before," she admitted. "But I'd always thought that God loved us just the way we are."

"Well, I have good reason to believe he doesn't whether he exists or not," Elliot said blatantly. "Tell me, what is more likely, that an all-powerful God created the universe and didn't leave any evidence of his own existence, or that primitive men just made him up so they wouldn't feel scared and alone."

"Well, I guess you have a good point there," said Erin soberly. "But I'd just always thought great minds believed in God like Albert Einstein for instance. Didn't he say that God didn't have a choice in creating the universe once?"

"Well, as for Einstein," said Elliot. "He didn't believe in any super-human kind of God, he just believed in the wonders and beauty of science and nature and reason and how the three of them go together so much. He was a very spiritual but very non-religious scientist.

"Oh," said Erin. "Well, how did you get to be so smart anyway?"

Elliot began thinking quickly for a right answer and he couldn't seem to find one except for the truth. "Now, this is gonna sound crazy, and I mean really crazy, but you've got to believe me," he said seriously to Erin. "Three years ago I met an alien. You've heard of them, right?"

"I read about them all the time in H. G. Wells and Ray Bradbury," Erin stated.

"Well, this alien wasn't like the kind you read about in books or see in movies," Elliot continued. "He was incredibly nice just as he was incredibly smart and he never stopped surprising me with the magic he could do. He built a transmitter out of old junk in my house and contacted his people to take him home, and he made my bicycle fly, and then he got sick and died but he came back to life again, and when he left he said he'd always be right here for me and he came to visit me for Christmas, and he came back just last night and he's here now and he was the reason I was able to make that leap in PT, he has a magic finger that heals."

Elliot had smiled enthusiastically as he was speaking while Erin's face held a completely blank and expressionless look. After a moment she looked him straight in the eye and said, "I see what you're doing. "You know I am a sci-fi geek and now you're making fun of me to let me know you don't like me because of it! Well, excuse me for liking to read H. G. Wells!" a hurt look appeared in her eyes and she quickly pushed past Elliot and exited through the building's doors.

"No, Erin! Wait!" Elliot yelled after her. "I'm not making fun of you! It's all true!" But she was already running too far away from him to hear.

Elliot sighed sadly and exited the school himself, he went over to the bike racks and picked put his bike and rode away towards home.


	4. Chapter 4

Elliot rose his bicycle up to his house and parked it by the garage. He found E.T. waiting for him there.

"Elliot, what is wrong?" asked E.T. concerned. "You look so downhearted."

"I told Erin about you, but she thought I was making it all up just to make fun of her," Elliot sighed.

E.T. looked like he understood. "She just wasn't ready to believe yet," he said gently. "Most of this Earth isn't ready to believe yet, but they will eventually, just give some time my friend."

Elliot was about to reply when suddenly a large white SUV pulled up into the driveway, and he recognized it instantly.

"Keys!" he exclaimed happily.

Sure enough when the left front door opened Keys stepped out of it and ran over to embrace E.T. and Elliot.

"I had to be here!' he said as he hugged them both. "Mary told me you had come back again."

Mary soon invited Keys to stay the night. Over dinner E.T. told them all about his home planet and all the wonderful plants and creatures on it. There were the jumpums which were trees that liked to jump around and play with you, and the shrieking Ja which shrieked at anyone who tried to bother it, and the Igigi Gyrums that played music from their fluteroots, and he also told them about his pet Flopglopple.

Later that night when all the kids were in bed asleep Keys and Mary sat cuddled up together on the couch watching _Casablanca_.

"You know, I am really so lucky to know an alien like E.T.," said Keys, "and I'm even luckier to know you and your kids because of it."

"We're so lucky to have you with us," said Mary. "You've made such a difference in their lives especially Elliot."

"Elliot is growing to such an intelligent young man," said Keys. "I will do everything to make sure that he has the best science education."

"We'll be forever grateful to you," said Mary relaxing in his arms.

"It's the least I can do," said Keys. "I feel like I owe it to him for seeing that my hopes and dreams were not proved in vain."

"Elliot is doing so well in school now but he has also been having a difficult time there," Mary said.

"I know, it hasn't escaped my attention," Keys said. "And so I have a proposal for you."

"Yes? I'm listening," said Mary looking up at him in anticipation.

"I know of some land up North where I used to go camping with my family when I was a kid, and that was where I met E.T., and now I would take you and your kids there along with E.T. for their Spring Vacation," Keys explained."

* * *

"Oh! Well, I'm sure they'd love it. Thanks," said Mary with a slight trace of disappointment to her voice. Though the disappointment was short-lived as just then Keys pulled her up to him and gave her a long and warmly welcomed kiss.

The SUV rode down the hillside as smoothly as could be expected with Keys in the front seat driving it with Mary sitting beside him in the passenger seat and a double backseat behind them of three singing kids and an extra-terrestrial trying to sing along with them.

"_John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith! His name is my name too! Whenever I go out the people always shout 'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith'!_"

They sang _Old MacDonald Had a Farm_,_ Pop Goes the Weasel_, and finally _A' Camping We Will Go_.

After an hour or so they all grew impatient. "Are we there yet?" asked Elliot.

"Just a few more hills and we'll be there," Keys assured him. Then "Oh no!" for they had just driven up to a roadblock which had orange cone-shaped objects positioning it for a few feet with a big orange sign in front which road "Road Closed for Construction Up Ahead."

"Looks like we're stuck," Keys lamented as the kids in the groaned and whimpered.

However just then E.T. leaned forward and reached out his long arm and stuck his long glowing fingertip into the ignition and they instantly felt themselves being lifted off of the ground and into the air, floating higher and higher above the treetops.

"Well, I guess you can always count on E.T. in a sticky situation!" Elliot exclaimed happily.

Keys drove the van forward as they flew above the woods and saw beautiful scenery far below them. Keys couldn't think when he had felt so pleased in his life, to actually be flying. He had heard about how E.T. had made the bicycles fly and now he knew the thrilling sensation of it as he drove his flying SUV.

"This is just like in the movie _Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang_!" Michael exclaimed laughing with ecstasy.

They all began singing the theme from that movie. Then after a half hour Keys pointed to a clear space in the woods far below them and exclaimed, "This is the place, right here. You can bring us down now," he said to E.T..

They floated slowly and gently down to the ground again, landing with only a slight bump. They all got up and Keys went around to the back of the SUV and unloaded their supplies including their tents and sleeping bags which they laid on the ground.

As Keys was putting the first tent, they're were two, one for the men and one for the women, he began to talk again about the pleasures of camping out. "We'll go on a hike as soon as we're set up. It'll be so much fun! There's all kinds of things you can see on a hike through the woods like animals, and some things you have to watch out for like poison ivy; and who knows, we may even run into a Sasquatch!"

"What in the world is a Sasquatch?" asked Gertie.

"It's also known as a bigfoot," Keys explained. "A friend of mine who is a psychologist reported to me to have seen one on an expedition of his. He said it was an eight foot tall hairy ape like creature and it had large red eyes and it walked almost like a human on two legs and it had the most eerie, most unusual kind of animal call you'd ever hear."

"Cool," said Elliot fascinated. "Have you ever seen one yourself?"

"No, though I sure would like to," Keys replied.

"But I thought Bigfoot was just a legend," said Michael a bit confused. "That it wasn't real."

"Well, remember extraterrestrials weren't real either until you met E.T.," Elliot pointed out.

Once everything had been set up and they had marked their area they set off on their nature hike with Keys taking the lead and E.T. riding in Elliot's backpack on his shoulders, it was no problem as he only weighed thirty-five pounds. Along the trail they saw many interesting plants which E.T. gave the names of, and they saw many animals through the trees nearby including a family of squirrels gathering nuts, a does with two fawns, a robin in high redwood tree building a nest, and a red fox with a white tail.

They hiked on through most of the day and the sun was just beginning to set when they got back to their campsite where Keys built a campfire for them out of sticks and stones and dry leaves and then they all began roasting marshmallows and passing along stories.

"The little boy was now lost and he cried for his mother though he was sure no one could hear him," Keys was saying. "But suddenly he saw two glowing red eyes staring at him through the darkness from in-between the trees and he heard a very strange growl. 'Who's there?' he asked and out of the woods stepped none other than Sasquatch himself. The little boy wanted to be afraid of him but now he was even more afraid of being lost and he pleaded with the beast with tears running down his cheeks, 'Please, can you help me find my way home?.' The Sasquatch somehow seemed to nod and pointed up and the little boy looked up and he saw a star which he remembered was called the North Star and he followed it until it led him all the way home."

Everyone around the campfire clapped. "That was a very good story," said Gertie. "I liked it.

E.T. bit into his toasted marshmallow on the end of his stick and then stuck his tongue out. "Too hot!" he complained.

Then Michael told a story about a haunted house and then E.T. told them stories about the various kinds of people he had seen on the various planets he and his companions had visited around the universe. Then they all turned in for the night and got into the tents and tucked themselves into their sleeping bags.


End file.
